Railway-mail-exchange apparatus



.Feb. 13, 1923.

A. HUPP.

RAILWAY MAIL EXCHANGE APPARATUS.

ORIGINAL FILED MAR. 3, I9I5- 5SHEET$SHEET l.

' A. HUPPr v RAILWAY MAIL EXCHANGE APPARATUS.

ORIGINAL FILED MAR. 3.1915. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Feb. 13,192&

A. HUPP.

RAILWAY MAIL EXCHANGE APPARATUS.

' 5 SHEETS'SHEET 3.

ORIGINAL FILED MAR. 3. I915.

Feb. 13, .1923. I

A. HUPP. RAILWAY MAIL. EXCHANGE APPARATUS.

s SHEETS-SHEET '4" ORIGINAL FILED MAR.3. 19I5.

QRBR

IIII HIP lilii IIIIIIIIIIIII NW Feb. 13, 1923.

A. HUPP. RAILWAY MAIL EXCHANGE APPARATUS.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5..

ORIGINAL FILED MAR. 3,1915.

Patented Feb. 13, 1923.

ra n

ALBERT HUPP, or onrcaso, rumors, .e ssren oa, BY MESNE Ass eNMnn'rs, T Aure MATIC RAILWAY MAIL nxcrrensn corrrnnv, or cnrcneo, rumors, A conro- BATIDN OF ILLINOIS.

BAILW'AY-MAIL-EXCHANGE APPARATUS.

Application filed March 3, 1915, Serial No. 11,825. Renewed December 6, 1921. Serial No. 520,442.-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT. Herr, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Mail-EX- change Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic mail exchange mechanisms and more particularly to the gearing for actuating the different parts of the mechanism. The invention is an improvement over the gearing shown in my earlier application No. 771,041, filed May 31, 1913, patented February 1, 1916, llo. 1,170,267.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a simple mechanism, of the class described, which is of substantial construction and perfectly reliable in operation.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view, the upper part of the casing being removed;

Figure 2 is a section on th Figure 1; I Y

Figure 3 is an elevation at the right hand side of Figure 1, a portion of the casing be ing broken away to show the cams;

Figure 4 is a partial revision of the upper side of Figure 1, the casing being shown in section;

Figure is asection on the line 55 of Figure 1; I

Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of the clutch members;

Figure 7 is an elevation of one of the clutch members;

Figure 8 is a development of the scale for indicating the position of the cams;

Figure 9 is a section on line 9-9 of Figure 1;

Referring to the drawings, 10 indicates a suitable casing which encloses the gearing and is made sectional in form so that it may be taken apart to permit the mechanism to be inspected or repaired whenever desired. A driving shaft 11 is mounted in a bearing 12 and carries on its end a hub 13, the end line 2 e of of the shaft projecting into a hub member 14, as indicated at 15. The hub member 14 is secured on a shaft 16 which is rotatably arranged in a bearing 17 and also carries a bevel gear 185 The bevel gear 18 meshes with a gear 19 which is secured to a hub member 20, the-latter being secured 'to a hollow shaft 21. The shaft 21 is mounted in a bearing 22 and also carries a hub mem her 23. The hub members and 28 are sub stantially similar in construction and, as

shown in Figure 6, have laterally projectingwings 24 which are arranged in sultable f recesses 25 in clutch members 26. The members 26 are provided with teeth 27 which are adapted to engage corresponding teeth on the cooperating clutch members 28 andbetween which and stationary lugs 36, on p the bearing 22, are arranged springs v37 which are adapted to separate the clutch members 26 and :28. The clutch member 29 has mounted thereon a collar 38 within which the clutch member is adapted to rotate, this collar being provided with lugs 39 which are engaged by springs 46 The springs 40 are arranged between the lugs 39 and the lugs 41 on the bearing 22 and. are adapted to separate the clutch members 26 and 29. The clutch member 28 has in abutting relation'therewith a seat 42 for a spring 43, this spring being coiledaround the shaft .30 and bearing against the collar 44 which abuts against the wall 45 of the casing. The seat 42 is slidable on the shaft 30 and the latter rotates therein. The collar 44 carries studs 46 which extend through lugs 47 on the seat 42 andv carry adjustable nuts 48. A yoke 49 is secured in the casing 10 and has pivotally connected therewith thev member 50. A member 51 1S pivotally connected with 2. lug 52 on the seat 42 and with the member 50. The members and 51 constitute a pair of toggles which 'areactuated by means of a" lever 53 the latter 7 being fulcrumed at 54 and pivotally connected at 55 with a slidingmember 56" Cir pin-and-slot connection indicated at 59. Beneath the shaft 30 there is another pair of toggles (not shown but similar to those indicated at 60 in Figure at), these toggles being connected with the yoke 49 and with the seat 42 and cooperating with the toggle members 50 and 51 to actuate the seat42 and being actuated by a lever (not shown) similar to the lever 53 and also connected with the sliding member 56. A lever 61 is fulcrumed at 62 and operatively connected with the member 56. A tripping shaft is mounted in bearings 64 and carries a downwardly projecting arm 65 which is adapted to engage the endo'l the lever 61 and actuate this lever when the shaft 63 1s rocked. From Figure 1 it will be evident that when the member 56 is moved toward the left the lever 53 will throw out simuh taneously the toggle members 50 and 51 and, the above described cooperating toggle member, the spring t3 then forcing the seat &2 and the clutch member 28 toward the right into engagement with its cooperating clutch member 26.

Referring to Figures 6 and '7, it will be evident that the wings 2% do not till the recesses or pockets 25 therefor in the clutch members26, thereby permitting a slight rotary movement of the member 26 rela tively to the member 20. The member 26 carries springs 66 arranged in pockets thereinand engaging the opposite sides of the wings 24, as shown in Figure 7, for the purpose of normally holding the clutch member 26 out of engagement with. the wings. By this construction, when the clutch members are thrown into engagement, the member 26 is permitted to have a slight rotary movement relatively to the member 20 so that it may adjust itself and allow the clutch teeth to become fully engaged, in case the teeth of: the clutch members do not properly register at the instant of engagement. 6

The clutch member 28 carries a lug 67 which engages a suitable notch 68 in the yoke 49 when the clutch member is disengaged from the member 26, as shown in Figure 1. /Vhen the toggle members are actuated, in the manner just described, the lug 67 is moved out of. the notch 68, thereby permitting the member 28 to rotate with the clutch member 26, which is rotated from the shaft 16 by means of the gears 18 and 19.

The clutch 'member 29 is thrown into engagement with the cooperating member 26 by means of. the spring 69 which is similar to the spring 43' and actuated by toggle mechanism 70, which is also similar to that just described. In Figure 1 the toggle mechanism 70 is shown in the open position and:

the cooperating clutch members 26- and 29 are m engagement. The toggle mechanism 70 is actuated by a lever 71 and a slidable member 72, the latter being actuated by a .mcnt until the completion of a revolution,

lever 73, similar to the lever 61. 'The lever 73 is actuated by an arm 74 on the tripping shatt- 75. The clutch member 29 carries a lug 76 which engages the recess 77 when the clutch members 26 and 29 are disengaged. In Figure l the lug 76 is shown out of the recess and slightly rotated from its normal position. The lugs 67 76, in rotating with the clutch members 28 and 29 respectively, engage the yokes 4a) and 7 8 re- 7 spectively and thus hold the clutch men.- bers in engagement against the tenden of the springs 37 and 40, to separate them. The clutch members are thus held in en g when the lugs 67 and 7 6 again register with. the notches 68 and 7? respectively, the lugs being then forced into the notches by the springs and the clutch members thus separated. From the foregoing it will be seen that when the toggles 50 and 51 are actuated, the shaft 30 will make one complete revolution and then, because otthe disen P lenient of the clutch members, will autou'iatically stop. The actuation of the togtitles 70 also permits the shaft 31 to make a romnlete revolution and then stop.

The shaft 30 has keyed thereto an arm 79 and the'shaft 31 has keyed thereto a similar arm 80. The arm 80 is shown in detail in Figure 5 and has secured thereto a disk 81, by means of bolts 82, which extend through elongated slots 83 in the arm, these slots permitting adjustment of the disk 81 about the shaft 31., relatively 'to thewarm. 100 A disk 84k is secured to the arm 79 and is similar to the disk 81. Both of these disks are provided with elongated slots 85 through which bolts 86 project, these bolts being carrie-rl. by 87 and 88. The cam. 87 is 105 mounted on a sleeve 89 which is rotatably arranged on the shaft 30 and. also carries cams 9t and 91. The cam. 68 is carried by a sleeve 92 which is rotatably mounted on the shaft and also carries cams 93 and 94c. 119

'lhe cams 8'7, and 91 are for the purpose of actuating the door and the mail receiving and discharging means on one side ot the car and the cams 86, 93 and 9st are for actuating the door and the receiving and dischar ing means on the other side lithe car. fez-on e to my .arlier application above referred to will disclose a. form of mechanism which is adapted to be actuated. by my improved gearing. The cam 87 ac- 39 tuates a slidable' rod 95 which carries a roller similar to the roller 96 on the rod 97 shown in Figure 3. The rod '95 is supported. in bearings 98 and 99 and is pivotally connected, by means oi? a pin 100 -with ,-a lever 101. The lever 101. has lower end fulcrumed in the manner indicatedat 102 in Figure 3, for the lever 103, the latter being connected .with the rod 97 by means of a pin 10%. The upper end of the lever v 101 has pivotally connected therewith a rod 105 which actuates the mechanism for open-- ing and closing a car door. A lever 105 similar to the lever 101 is actuated by the cam and the rod 106. The upper endot the lever is connected with mechanism for actuating a mail receiving chute. A. lever 107, also similar to the lever 101, is actuated by the cam 91 and the rod 103 and operatively connected with the mail delivery chute. The rod 97 is actuatedby the cam 88 and rods 109 and 110 are actuated by the cams 93 and 9e respectively. The rod 109 actuates a lever 111 and the rod 110 actuates a lever 112, these levers being similar to the lever 103 and being operatively connected with the mail receiving and mail delivering chutes respectively.

From Figure 1 it will be seen that the mechanism actuated by the cams 88, 93 and 9 1 is substantially a duplicate of the mechanism operated by the cams 87, 90 and 91. The levers 101, 103, 105, 107, 111 and 112 are of adjustable length as illustrated in Figure 3, the manner of adjusting the lever 103 being shown in this figure. The lever is made of two parts which are clamped together by bolts 113, these bolts extending through slots 114 in one of the parts of the lever and permitting the adjustment when the bolts are loosened.

It will be understood that by varying the with reference to the disks 8]. and 84C and. in

order to facilitate the adjustment or the cams, the disks 81 and 34 are provided at 115 with peripheral scales116 (see Figure 8), these scales being preferably marlred to indicate degrees of angle.

The arm 79 is provided with a'laterally projecting lug 117 which engages the end of the member 56, immediately after the shaft 30 begins to revolve, and moves the member 56 to the right in Figure 1 so as to close the toggle members 50 and '51 and retract the spring 413. Before the spring 13 is retracted, however, the lug 67 has passed out of the notch 68 and is in engagement with the end surface of the yoke 4-9 and thus prevents the clutch members 26 and 28 from being separated by the springs 37. The shaft 30, with the cams 87, 90 and 91, then makes a complete revolution and during this revolution the cams move the levers 101, 105 and 107 to actuate the mechanisms connected therewith. When the shaft 30 completes a. revolution, the lug 67 again registers with the notch 68 and the springs to separateithe clutch n'ieznbers 26 and 28 and thus stop the cams. The arm 30 is provided with a laterally projecting lug 11 8which is similar to the lug 117 and actuates the memor are permitted v her 72 in the same manner that the lug 117 75 respectively, from suitable trip1 )ing-mech-. 1

anism arranged'along the track.

In order to insure against breaking the clogged during the operationoithe cams. a

11 and 16. This slip coupling comprises the cooperating clutch parts 119 and 120 of the members 13 and 1 1 respectively, these clutch members being normally held in engagement I by springs 121, which bear against the disks 122 and 123. Theshaft 1.1 is adapted to no tate in the disk 123 and the latter is carried 'mechanism when any part thereof becomes 'slip coupling is provided between theshatts- 3 by a disk 12% through a series of bolts 125. r

The clutch members 119 and 120 have inclined faces and in the case of any overload or excessive resistance on the" part of the cams or the mechanism operated. thereby,the clutch member 119 will slip outof engagement with the member 120, the springs 121- yielding for this purpose." The spring 121 always tends to move the member-119 into engagement with the -member' 120 so that in case the cause of the disengagement is removed, the clutch members will autom'atically complete, the revol utionotv the cams.

As shown in Figures2and 3; the casing 10 is secured to the underside of thecar by means of suitable suspending rods 12b and the shafts 11,63 and 75 are connected with the actuating mechanism (not shown) which is carried by the truck byjsuitable flexible and extensible shafts, permitting tree. movement of the truck relatively to the car body.

In the operation of the device the trip-' ping mechanism arranged along the track will act on one. of the tripping shafts 63 or 7 5. Asboth act alike it is necessary to describe one only; Movement of shaft 63 through arm 65 and lever 61 moves member 56 to the left as viewed inFigure 1, thereby, through lever 53 throwing out the togglejoint and permitting spring 43 to cause the engagement of clutchmembers 28 and 26. Thus thecams 87, 90 and 91 will each make one revolution actuating levers 101, 105 and 107 respectively. The toggle joint is aligned by projection 117, which revolves with the cams, acting on member 56, thus relieving the clutch members from the spring 13, and permitting springs 37 to disengage them, when projection 67 registers with recess 68.

essee? described the invention what is Having desired to be secured Letters means for actuating said holding means to release said spring, and'cam means automatically retracting said spring in advance of the disengagement of the clutch members.

2. in apparatus of the class described, the combination of driving means, a cam shaft, cooperating clutch i'uembers on said driving means and said shaft, a spring for effecting the engagement of said clutch memgle mechanism bers, toggle mechanism for holding: said "spring retracted when said members are not in engagement, means foractuating said togto release said spring, and

cam means for automatically retracting said sprin I 3. n apparatus of the class describes, the

combination of driving means, a cam shaft,

' cooperating clutch members on said driving means and said shaft, a spring for effecting the engagement of said clutch members, toggle mechanism for holding said spring retracted when said members are not in engagement, means for actuating said toggle mechanism to release said spring, and cam means for automatically actuating said toggle mechanism to retract said spring.

4:. In apparatus'of the class described, the combination of driving means, a cam shaft, cooperating clutch members on said driving means and said shaft, spring for efiecting the engagement of said clutch members,- toggle mechanism for holding said. spring retracted when said members are not in engagement, means for actuating said toggle mechanismto release said spring, and cam means for automatically retracting said spring by closing said toggles.

,5. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of driving means, a cam shaft, cooperating clutch members on said driving means and said shaft, a spring for effecting the engagement of said clutch members, toggle mechanism for holding said spring retracted when said members are not in engagement, means, for actuating said toggle mechanism to release said sprin cam means for automatically retracting said spring, and

means for holding said members in engagement after said spring has been .retracted.

'6. In apparatus of the class described, the

combinaticn of driving means, a cam shaft,

coopera ing clutch members on said driving means said shaft,a spring for effecting the engagement of. said clutch members, toggle' mechanism for iolding said spring re tracted when said members are not in engagement, means for actuating said toggle mechanism to release said spring, cam means for automatically retracting said spring, cam

means for holding said members 1n engagement aftersaid spring has been, retracted, and means for automatically disengaging said members.

7. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of driving means, a cam shaft, cooperating clutch members on said driving means andsaid shaft, a spring for efi'ecting the engagement of said clutch members, toggle mechanism for holding said spring retracted when said members are not in engagement, mean for actuating sald toggle.

mechanism to release said spring, cam means for holding" said members in engagement after said spring has been retracted, and spring means for automatically disengaging said members when they have completed a revolution.

8. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a driving shaft, a driven shaft, clutch members for forming a driving connection between said shafts, spring means for efi'ecting the engagement of said clutch members, a toggle mechanism for holding said spring means retracted when said clutch members are out of engagement, a slidable member, a lever connecting said slidable member with said toggles, and a cam rotatable with the driven shaft and adapted to actuate said sliding member, immediately after said clutch members are thrown into engagement, to retract said spring means.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' ALBERT HUPP.

Witnesses.

B. M. KENT, ARTHUR L. BRYANT. 

